Angela Merkel attempts to calm immigration row

Angela Merkel sought to defuse the growing row in Germany over EU migration on Friday by announcing plans for a government committee to look at possible measures to curb benefit tourism.

The chancellor interrupted her holiday to discuss immigration with Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the centre-left Social Democrats, according to Georg Streiter, a spokesman for Ms Merkel. They also agreed the cabinet would use its first meeting of the year next Wednesday to debate immigration.

The issue has divided Germany's coalition, made up of Ms Merkel's Christian Democrat party, its Bavarian sister party the CSU and the SPD, less than two weeks after it was established and generated tensions even within Ms Merkel's CDU.

The dispute was sparked by the lifting on January 1 of EU-wide work restrictions on migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, prompting concern across the bloc over potential waves of immigration into wealthier member states, including Germany, France and the UK.

Mr Streiter said the planned committee of senior officials would examine whether and how government departments could take action against abuses of welfare benefits by EU migrants.

Ms Merkel's intervention came after Elmar Brok, a veteran CDU member of the European parliament and head of its foreign affairs committee, called on politicians to consider having immigrants fingerprinted if they tried to make improper benefit claims.

Mr Brok told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper that migrants who arrived solely with the intention of seeking welfare handouts should be sent home, and fingerprinting of such people "to prevent multiple journeys" should be considered.

His suggestion was quickly rejected by CDU officials, who said it was "absurd" and incompatible with the EU's open borders policy. Government officials also pointed out it could be illegal - the European Court of Justice ruled in 2008 that EU member states that kept registers of foreigners could not even store photographs of them and the same principle could apply with greater force to fingerprints.

Mr Brok's proposal comes after a week of exchanges triggered by a CSU statement that said "whoever cheats [on benefit], must fly out the door".

While the CSU insisted it was doing nothing more than restating the coalition agreement, SPD politicians launched counter-attacks defending the free movement of labour. Ms Merkel on Friday appealed for calm.

Mr Streiter said there were no differences of substance among the coalition parties and that nobody in the coalition was challenging the free movement of labour.

However, the CSU is eyeing the March 18 local council elections in Bavaria, and all parties are preparing for May elections to the European parliament, which threaten to become a field day for nationalist parties from across the EU.

Germany itself has no large nationalist parties and although immigration has become an issue, the debate has been more restrained there than elsewhere in the bloc.

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